The Great War
by bosscascade
Summary: The story of the legendary Great War between the Empire and the Dominion though the eyes of those who fought and commanded it. Those who fight in it will bleed and triumph to uphold the law, for the law is sacred and the Empire is law.
1. A Little Drop of Rain

_30th of Frostfall, The Imperial Palace _

A storm rages over the Imperial city, rain pounds on the Imperial Palace as thunder booms overhead. The Empire stands weaker by the day, the Imperial Bureaucracy has failed to restore the Empire to its pre-Oblivion glory while the Imperial Legions continues falling deeper and deeper into despair, and then there's Thalmor…

A droplet of water lands on my hand. I look up to see cracks in the ceiling, they seem to get larger everyday despite the servants best efforts to fix them. I sigh, what is an Emperor who can't even fix his own palace's roof?

"My Emperor."

My thoughts are interrupted by Blade Captain Esbern.

"The Thalmor ambassador wishes to present a proposal to you."

Sighing I half considered sending the ambassador away. The Thalmor's expansion had been causing the Empire and myself unimaginable pain, alas I still had to entertain these fanatics.

"Tell the guards to let him in."

The great door to the throne room opened and in strode the Thalmor Emissary followed by a covered cart. A great stench of arrogance, cruelty, and excitement surrounded the Emissary and his escort.

"Oh reversed Emperor Titus Mede the Second, sovereign of the mighty Empire of Man!" The emissary announces with a mockery and glee. "I have come before you today with an ultimatum from the Dominion."

I gripped my throne in anger, "_Ultimatum? These damn Thalmor think they can march into my throne room and demand something of me!? Perhaps it is truly time for me to put these freaks in their place…"_

The Thalmor casted a quick spell to summon his ultimatum scroll, as if to mock us even now on their magical prowess.

"Titus Mede." The Thalmor began, dropping any pretense of politeness, "Our mighty Dominion's demands are simple, simple enough that even your kind will understand. We demand, the session of Hammerfall, a yearly tribute of gold, the disbanding of The Blades, the outlawing of the worship of the false god Talos, and allowing Thalmor agents free reign inside the Empire to enforce said outlawing."

The emissary stopped reading and nonchalantly folded up the scroll before casting another spell to make it disappear.

The entire room stood dead silent, everyone, besides the grinning Thalmor, had their mouths agape. Looking at my Blades I could almost see their rage as they gripped their Katana pommels, only their iron discipline keep them from moving to decapitate the Thalmor.

Choking down my own anger and shock and the abusity of the ultimatum I stand up from the throne and tower over the pompous elf, "How dare you bring this absurd insult to my throne!" I boomed, "The Empire shall never give an inch to you or your damned Dominion!"

The emissary chuckled and shurged, acting as if he were talking to a child, "Well Mede I hoped we could reach an agreement, but it seems we can't and so we must go to war. But, before I go I wanted to give one last gift to your 'mighty Empire'." He turned back to his covered cart and grabbed the cloth covering it.

"Let this be a show of our manganamousses." He said coldly while pulling off the cloth

My voice cracked and I collapsed back onto the throne. Inside the cart was the heads of an untold number of Blades, many of whom I recognized as commanders of the Blades in Thalmor territory.

"Damn you Thalmor!" A Blade let out a war cry and charged to Emissary, only to be held back by Esbern.

The Emissary let out a laugh and turned around to walkout. "Goodbye Titus I'll be back soon. All it will take is one kick for your whole rotting Empire to come crashing down." He stopped to look at the Blade being held back, "And do keep your pets under control."


	2. All is Quiet

General Tiberius:

30th Frostfall, near midnight

Fort Nike on the Northern Imperial-Valenwood border near Anvil.

_To my dearest wife Luculla_

_As usual, it is quiet at Fort Nike. Weather has been poor lately but nothing out of the ordinary. The old stone walls of the fort could use a little dusting from all the rain anyway..._

"Legatus Labinus, sir."

Looking back I see one of my attendants standing at the end of my tent.

"Ah, Quintus. I just finished some paperwork… Was there something you needed?"

"The sentries have come across a fisherman claiming to have noticed so-called 'giant beasts' in the nearby rivers."

"Giants beasts?" I chuckled, "Surely this fog is just playing tricks on the locals, here, I'll even take a step outside to see how visibility is"

I casually threw open the tent flaps and stepped outside into a sea of fog.

"Strange…" I said silently, "This is a truly blinding fog for this area, seems far more appropriate for Black Marsh than Cyrodiil."

"Almost unnaturally so?" Asked Quintus cryptically.

"Hmm," I said, getting a bit more nervous, "After you've served as long as I have, you'll get used to strange weather patterns such as this. But, we should remain alert. Tell the men to keep a close eye out for anything out of the ordinary, namely any sign of those so-called 'giant beasts."

"Open the gate!" Someone shouted from the distance.

As the gate opened it revealed an exhausted Legionnaire Rider.

"Legate!" He shouted, nearly out of breath. "Large objects have been spotted moving into the river that makes up the Valenwood border! They appear to be boats sir! Thalmor boats!"

I paled, his words echoing through the quiet night.

"_Impossible," _I thought, "_There has been no declaration of war, no other reports"_

"Recall my last order Quintus, get the camp on full guard and send riders to the nearby garrisons, I fear the Dominion might be making its first moves."

"But, the dominion? It can't…" Quintus' expression steeled, "As your order sir!" He saluted and left to relay the orders.

"You truly think the Dominion is mobilizing against us?" A voice from behind asked in a bored tone.

I turned around to see it was Varus, a nobleman from Anvil that had encamped with us for the night.

"Not mobilizing, I fear they are already upon us."

He raised an eyebrow, "And no one had noticed?"

"The forests run deep Varus, it would be hard enough to notice any massing, combine it with their abilities for magic it would be a true challenge to get any sort of intel on their movements."

"What kind of magic could possibly hide an army?" He responded skeptically.

"Take this fog for example, do you truly think it's natural? Now I must be off to rally my men." I said turning around.

"My personal guard will be available to assist in the upcoming battle."

"Duly noted Varus! Keep them in reserve!" I shouted behind me.

I had nearly made it to the wall when the first fireballs began to rain down. I dived to cover to avoid the debris. Fires were now breaking out across camp and the air was thick with black smoke. Getting back to my feet I began running to the shore wall.

"Return fire!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. "All catapults find a target and sink those bastards!"

As I shouted that another volley went clean over the walls of the camp and straight to the catapults. I quickly shielded my eyes from the light of the explosion as I reopened them. I was met with the sight of horror, where once there had been half a dozen catapults only burning wood remained. The scent of charred wood and flesh began to fill the night's air.

"All catapults destroyed sir! They knew exactly where to hit us!" One one of the few surviving catapult officers yelled over the pitch of battle.

"_Impossible." There is no way they could be this accurate. Unless they somehow knew where the catapults where… Damnit!"_

Several more volleys followed hitting walls, munition stores, and even the healing tent. I attempted to rally the men across camp to put out fires and to restore the damaged defenses wherever possible, but without any available counter battery, we were sitting ducks. When the bombardment finally stopped a few minutes later the fort was in tatters. Many of the buildings had been damaged or destroyed. While the majority of Legionnaires survived several lay dead on the field, several more had taken injuries from debris or had been burned by the heat of the salvos, worst of all the south wall had taken significant damage, opening us up to a land assault.

"The elves are landing troops!" A lookout warned.

"Legionnaires! Form a shield wall on the breaches! I need archers on the walls giving support!" I shouted on the top of my lungs.

"General Labinus. My guard is ready to help. Where do you want us?" Varus asked putting on a mask of confidence, but was clearly shaken.

I quickly studied his men, it was a small group of 12 men dressed in Anvil Guard Armor. They were seemingly commanded by a massive Redguard mercenary whos armor looked a few sizes too small to fit his frame. Besides the captain, the rest looked panicked and green. "As I said keep them in reserves, they will be needed to assist in supporting my men wherever they are overwhelmed. My centurions will be keeping in touch with you throughout the battle of help coordinate. Now if you excuse me I must oversee the front."

"Of course General." He responded disappointedly.

Standing one of the few remaining watchtowers I began surveying the situation. The fog was still thick however had greatly reduced. Instead of being nearly blinded we could see about to the shore.

"I'd estimate 3 dozen Thalmor coming on this side, undoubtedly more on the way." Commented on my side.

Looking through my own spyglass I looked to the Thalmor landing site. Several rowboats full of elves were making landing 6 groups of Thalmor began assembling. In each squad were 5 in the standard golden elven armor being led by a single black-clad Justicar.

"I hate to sound so craven but would it not be best to do a strategic retreat to Anvil? Even if the fort was in full repair I doubt our chances to hold against such an onslaught."

"Quintus I'll be frank with you. I agree that our chances to hold are slim at best but we cannot fall back. As long as we hold out here we threaten the Thalmor's flanks which forces them to spend men and time holding us here. Should we retreat the full force of their armies will come down on the unprepared forts behind us giving them a clear much to Anvil. As such it is our duty as Legionnaires to hold here and hold well."

"Then that we shall." Quintus nodded in agreement.

_20 minutes later_

Fortunately with our position being on a hilly Peninsula our situation wasn't nearly as dire as it seemed. There was only one practical way for them to attack us and that is through the southern wall and a long march up the hill.

A wall of spear men legionnaires began to fill the gaps of the south wall, most of their armor already covered in soot and grime from the previous bombardment. Behind them stood bowmen not just ready to cut down charging Thalmor but to, most importantly, eliminate any Justicars before they had a chance to blast through our lines with fireball magic. Behind us stood Varus and his men. Besides Varus and the Redguard, most of them seemed panicked if there was still a way to run no doubt they would have tried that by now. Varus himself has donned a great steel armor set with gold trims crossing it, on his hip sat a claymore that looked so sharp and shiny that I doubted it ever was used before.

At long last the enemy host marches into position at the bottom of the hill, their golden plate glows from the light of the fire and torches, the black-clad Justicars appear to fade in and out of the night as the light flickers.

"Why are they just standing there?" Quintus asked looking through his telescope.

"Heh, damn pointy ears must think us stupid Imperials can't hit them from that far away." Archer Captain Ramos said with a sly grin, "Bout time to prove how wrong they are... Ready!" He shouts as he raises his arm. He holds for a second as if he was savoring the moment. "FIRE!"

Over a dozen arrows fly towards the enemy. Whether Ramos was right about them thinking they were out of range or just sheer arrogance was to blame we will never know but true to his word our archers hit their marks. Several arrows hit their marks knocking out Justicar and common more solid alike before they even had the chance to raise their shields. A cheer erupted from our camp as the men watched them fall, but the celebration doesn't last long. Now alerted to the fact that they are in range the Thalmor began charging up to the wall. Now prepared for our volly many arrows bounced off their shields as they advanced. Shortly after the counter volleys began, error and fireball alike rained down upon our line, fortunately the angle of the hill made it so their arrows were of limited effect while our own archers were able to pin their Justicars thus preventing many fireballs.

"I'm quite surprised Sir." Quintus said peering through his telescope as if unable to believe his eyes, "I thought they would do something more eloquent than just charge up the hill."

I nodded in agreement, "As did I. It seems that our good Captain Ramos was correct about their arrogance." I said as yet another flew into a Thalmor's unfortunate face.

At last the first wave of Thalmor came crashing into our spearmen.

"Hold fast men! We'll push these basterds back!" I shout holding my sword high for all to see.

Like the tide crashing into the beach the first wave pull pack only to be met with the next assault.

I jumped down from the wall moving Legionaries to where they are needed, trying to cycle the troops at the front to keep them fresh. After nearly 20 minutes of fighting one of our lines begins to collapse.

"Varus! Help them hold!"

"Oh I'll do more than that!" He shouts grinning.

He and his men charge into the line, Varus cleeves though a Thalmor while his men and the remaining Legionnaires kill a few more trying to push back, however, Varus doesn't stop at just securing the line.

"Divines damnit Varus! Get back into the fort!" I shout charging to the hole that Varus ran out of, joining the fray myself.

Varus cleaved through another one ignoring my orders, he turned to face another one only to be met with a fireball. Seeing their commander fall the guardsmen begin to panic and flee. Only the Redguard remains to pull his Lord back to safety. I desperately try to rally men to hold the gap only to be met with a massive explosion. I was knocked back nearly a dozen feet into the dusty and charred ground. My vision began to fade in and out, powerlessly I watched as retreating Legionnaires are cut down by the victorious Thalmor. A massive Justicar slowly approaches, savoring the bloodshed. He turns to face me.

"A Legatus." He said with a savage grin, "Remember this day, remember the day when Ondolemar taught you shame and defeat."

I fell unconscious and the world faded to black.


	3. The Fires of War

_Castle Anvil, the same night._

"Have you put any thought in marriage yet Tactus? You're a man halfway through 20 and yet remain single. The available suitors dry up by the year." My father, Count Maxius Umbranox comments across the table.

"Surly father, what does it matter? 5 years from now, 10? It is all the same in the grand scheme of things." I reply with a grin.

"Humpf!" He snorts, "What complete nonsense, we are the bloodline of the rulers of Anvil, the bloodline of the Champion himself! You are my only son and should anything happen to us what would happen to Anvil then? A city needs a count!"

I shrugged in response, "Must we talk about this every dinner? Even mother has tired of this topic."

"Preposterous! Tell the boy off dear."

"Oh yes." Mother responded bordly, "Whatever your father has been yapping on about. It will save us a few headaches at least. _sigh_. I swear you Bretons can be so stubborn." Despite being the sister to the Emperor, mother was never the political type.

"See? She agrees with me." He said apparently missing the sarcasm of mother's response.

With a creek, the dining room doors opened.

"My lords." Guard Captain Tiberius said with a bow. "I apologize for interrupting you, but large fires have been spotted on the periphery."

"Oh?" My father responded with interest, "_well at least this might take him off the previous topic"_ I thought to myself. "Fires are hardly uncommon but if you felt the need to inform me of this, this must not be a mere common fire."

"Yes milord I fear so." The Captain responded with grave certainty, "This has no markings of a typical wildfire, the smoke is coming in the direction of the outer villages near the Valenwood border."

"Perhaps it is a bandit raid?"

"Perhaps, but I fear it is worse. There are too many in too short a timeframe for this to be a mere raid. There is a disturbing level of coordination here." He hesitated for a moment, "We have also received no reports from Fort Nike for some time, a mere bandit raid wouldn't be able to cut them off like this."

My father furrowed his brows, deep in thought, "So you think it is the Dominion then? It has truly begun?"

"Yes." The Captain responded horsley, "Yes I believe so."

"I should like to see this myself." Father said, as he rose from his chair, "You two stay inside the castle."

"No." I responded firmly, "I will come as well."

"Tactus, you must stay here. This isn't a game, the Dominion is as ruthless as they are dangerous. A single Thalmor wizard that gets close enough to the wall could easily end all our lives with a well-placed fireball… Or an assassin perhaps, it would hardly be a new tactic for the Dominion."

I bellowed in rage, "You say I am to rule Anvil yet you won't even allow me to due the bare minimum in protecting the city! It's not even the battlefield we are just going to walls!"

Father stood there for a moment, considering my outburst. "Very well then." Father responded coldly, "Come with us."

Despite being near midnight the skys were lit up, not with stars, but flame. By now numerous guards and local Imperial soldiers stood ready battlements of Anvil, waiting to repulse any attack on the city.

"It's even worse than before..." That guard captain said as he stared wide eyed into the night.

"You've sent out calvery to discover the source of this correct?" Father asked.

The Captain shook himself out of his daze "Of course milord but they have not yet returned, they are expected back in 10 minutes or so, I've also taken the liberty to prepare a force to drive out these attackers."

Father thought about that for a second before turning around in the direction of the Abecean Sea. "No… That is what they want us to do… We must prepare for a siege and not for one over land but on the seas as well." Father said with grimly.

"But milord the scouts haven't even returned yet, I am firmly confident in the Legions and Anvil abilities to repulse these brutes." The Captain responded with false confidence.

"Father you cannot be serious! We cannot just allow these scum to sack our holdings!"

"Captain!" He said ignoring me, "The Thalmor are coming to put us under siege and we must make whatever preparations we can. I need you to send men out to alert any remaining military positions of the approaching army, tell them to make for the nearest fortified position, preferably here and in Kvatch. We also must gather as much food and other supplies as possible and bring it here, I suspect we will be cut off for a long time now. Tell civilians outside the walls to evacuate, hopefully, they can make it to the Imperial City before the Thalmor riders catch up to them, take those closet here to come to Anvil but we will not have enough food for all of them. Lastly, I want small units out to slow down the Thalmor as much as possible as well as the navy to be prepared for a fight. I have already written a sealed letter explaining this that is in your office if you feel necessary to consult it. Understood?"

"Uh.. Of course milord." He said snapping to attention. "What of supplies we cannot bring with us?"

"Destroy them, entire fields if you must." Father said grimly, "We must make it as difficult for the enemy as possible."

"Entire fields?"

"It must be done. We've prepared for this moment captain, it's time to see if we are truly ready." Father said with a pained expression.

The Captain saluted and scurried off.

I stood there with my mouth agape, this was a side of my father I'd scarcely seen before. The almost comedic grumbling old man from earlier was replaced by a stern and highly intelligent leader.

"Son." My father said turning to me. "I have a task for you, it's simple but a very important one. Go to the bartender of the Floating Maiden on the waterfront. It's a floating tavern it will be hard to miss. Tell him that I am 'cashing in', this will be imperative for us. You understand me?"

"I… You…" I said in disbelieving shock.

He chuckled, "Thought your old man couldn't do anything eh? Well perhaps I can't when it comes to most things, but I'll tell you what my father told and his father told him and all that. Always be ready to defend what you care about most. Do you think our own ancestor, The Champignon would have pushed back Oblivion with Martin if he didn't believe that? I've known that the Thalmor would invade, then again anyone could figure that out, so I've been preparing for this for a long time now." He said confidently. "If only your Uncle had been more prepared for this." He grumbled.

I regained my footing, "We still shouldn't allow them to destroy our lands and we sure as Oblivion should not destroy our own."

Father sighed, "The hard choices we must make in life son. When you are older you will understand what this means. Now if you really want to defend our home deliver that message."

I turned my heel and ran to the waterfront as quickly as I could. Maybe if I delivered this fast enough I could at least go on one of the scouting forces being sent out. "_How could he abandon our lands so easily? It's craven!"_

The seafront was never dark, even at night, dozens if not hundreds of torches, firepits, and lanterns kept the night at bay. Sailors, merchants, and people of all sorts of exotic people populated the docks as ships moved to and fro. After making my way through the hordes of people I finally found the bar. It was a small, sailess, rickety old boat, judging by the people around it the place looked like a very seedy establishment, "_Hardly a place for a Count… or his son."_

The inside only served to prove what I thought, it stunk of hard liquor, vomit, and Divines know what else.

"Fancy boy, you seem a bit lost." One of the patrons commented with a sly grin.

I ignored him and kept pushing my way up to the front. Taking a seat on a rickety old stool at the bar I motioned for the bartender to come over.

"Well, what do you want little lord, a drink? Might be a little hard compared to the honey you're used to." His breath stunk of old booze.

"My father, Count Umbranox, _Divines knows why_, told me to hand this letter to you." I said in a pungent tone, "And to say 'that he is cashing in."

"Oh?" He said raising an eyebrow. "Well now, this is interesting. Don't worry, I'll be sure this letter reaches our mutual friend." He said carefully putting the letter in his pocket.

"Right… _what is going on? Who could my father be friends with in a cesspool like this?_ I'll just be on my way."

"Goodbye, little lord." The bartender said with a wave.

I clenched my fists in rage, "_He tries to keep me locked up in the Castle, he won't let me join the battle, and he sends me to be insulted here."_

When I exited the bar the scene outside had changed dramatically. The streets were largely cleared, those still out were running to their homes, instead, there were legions of guards who had begun to mobilize across the city. Even the ocean had changed, the familiar cargoships all sat stationary in their docks while the Anvil Navy began to push out to sea. In the midst of the navy was a strange tiny ship covered in darkness. It gracefully glided past the limbering hulks of the larger ships and flew out of the harbor.

"_Is this what he meant by 'delivering it to our mutual friend?"_

I ran back to the walls as fast as I could, I swore to myself I wouldn't miss the battle. I would be there when the Thalmor come to Anvil.

I finally reach the wall to see my father, fully armored, discussing something with a cavalry group.

"Father!" I shouted in rage, "First you send me to that cesspool and now you plan on leaving without me."

He scowled and motioned for the cavalry to be on their way.

"Son." He scoffed, "I didn't plan on leaving you anywhere. My place is in Anvil, just as yours is."

"But your armor… We need to defend our lands."

He sighed, "Yes we do, but defending what we love isn't always best done charging in shining armor, it's not always cutting down one enemy after another, and it sure as hell isn't some romantic nonsense about the brave knight saving the princess." He pauses for a moment and looks up to the battlements where guards stand ready, bow and sword in hand. "Defending what you love is about being where you can do the most good. For some it really is charging at the enemy, for some like the men standing on there it is waiting for the enemy to come to you, and for leaders like us, it is planning and strategizing… Holding the army together to fight the foe."

"But where is the glory… the honor…"

He looked me straight in the eye, not with an expression of rage or disgust, no it was an expression that pained me more than anything else. He looked at me with shame, not shame towards me but himself. He softly laughed to himself, but not the hearty one I was so used to be a hollow and pained one, "If you believe in this nonsense, perhaps you would have been better off sent to bards college where the rest of the paper and pen warriors are." He said, hardly above a whisper, "Look at these men." He said motioning to the soldiers around us, "Do you honestly believe all of them want to be here. To be freezing in this cold, to fight in atrocious combat only to be rewarded with a slow painful death? Honor is one thing, but glory? Glory is for those who can afford it, those who think themselves, heroes, as they send one man to die after the other in their place." He paused, "Glory is a fantasy that we tell ourselves to shape the world in the image we'd like to see it, never mistake it for reality," He said with a heavy heart. "If you ignore every other thing I've said in my life then do so if you wish but promise me this… **NEVER** forget what this lesson." He said as he began walking away. "Never forget… lest you learn to regret forever..."

I just stood there, silent in the rain as my father walked away. I tried to call out to him, wanting to tell him how he was wrong, that he was a coward for leaving our people to die as we hide behind our walls, but I didn't, I don't know why but I couldn't bring myself I say it.


End file.
